July 25, 2013

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My next Scientists in the Field book is about the Asian longhorned beetle (ALB) and the men and women studying it in Worcester County, Massachusetts. ALB is a fascinating insect with a fascinating life cycle, but it did not evolve here in North America. It hitchhiked here from Asia, in wooden shipping supplies. Now that it’s here, ALB is causing problems for trees. Lots of problems for lots of trees. As I type, the beetle is threatening to enter the northeastern hardwood forest. If that happens, the forest as we know it could change substantially.

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About Loree Burns

Loree Griffin Burns, Ph.D. lives, writes, and watches bees in central Massachusetts, where she lives with her husband and three children. You can visit her at www.loreeburns.com. She is the author of the award-winning Scientists in the Field titles Tracking Trash: Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Science of Ocean Motion and The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe. Her next Scientists in the Field book is about beetles and trees.